A view from one of the many lookouts in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Can you believe it’s 2016 already? I feel like this year has flown by. I probably say that every year, but I think the weirdly warm weather we’re having on the East Coast this year makes it feel even less like it’s winter. If you read my last post about camping with kids, then you know we started camping this year. We’ve gone three times- once with just our little family (me, Hubby and Little J) and twice with my SIL, her husband and kids. One of those two times was to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. We went during Labor Day weekend, and unless you have reservations (which go fast, months earlier), I wouldn’t recommend just showing up. That’s what we did, but it was risky. I took Thursday afternoon off from work, and we arrived at the Big Meadows Campground around dusk. We were able to get one of the last 5 spots. The other 4 were gone within 45 mins or so. People get arriving all day Friday and were turned away, because they didn’t have a reservation and there weren’t any first come, first served spots available. So we were lucky.

There’s always fun stuff to do around the camp site or nearby. We keep toys and games in the tent too in case of rain!

There are other campgrounds at Shenandoah, and some of them are exclusively first come, first served. Ours was the mostfamily-friendly campground. I say that because it had hot showers, laundry facilities and a camp store down the road with gear and food. Roughing it? Not exactly, but if you have three small kids with and-thistime- two dogs…having some luxuries available seemed like a good idea. We did end up going back and forth to that store at least once a day. We also made a trip down the mountain toWalmart once. That was about a 45 minute or longer drive one way, so I wouldn’t recommend doing that often if you camp at Big Meadows.

The sites themselves seemed nice. They have the typical paved spots with a bit of grass that work for either tents or campers. They also have tent-only sites, and we ended up in one of those spots. Each of the tent-only sites had a metal bear box to put your food inside and out of the reach of animals. To reach the tent-only sites, you have to park your car in a little lot and walk up a short trail to your site. It’s really not far at all -maybe 50 feet- but that makes it inconvenient to keep your cooler and food in your car, hence the bear box.

We had a chance to hike several trails including the famous Appalachian Trail. Bike riding on the path through Big Meadows was a blast too. And, yes, I might be wearing a fanny pack in one of those photos…

We didn’t see any black bears while we were there, but the park rangers and other campers told us about sightings. A park ranger at the visitor center down the road gave a talk about black bears. He said that if you see a black bear, don’t run! That’s the worst thing you can do. Just stand still, and if they get close, then make lots of noise, and it will scare them away. The kids were hopeful the entire weekend that they’d see bears but no such luck. We did see bear scat when we were walking on the Appalachian Trail, and it was interesting to see the berries inside the scat. Apparently the bear had been foraging on plants, which bears like to eat.

We went hiking on quite a few trails and rode our bikes on the paved paths. There was a playground at the nearby lodge that the kids played on a couple of times. There was a restaurant at the lodge at which we ate. I know…definitely not back woods camping. 🙂

There were deer everywhere. They’d even walk by our tents in the middle of the night! We also saw your smaller animals like squirrels, rabbits and lots of birds.

One thing worth noting…Hubby and I have AT&T as a phone carrier, and most places in the park we did NOT get a signal. We did get a signal at the lodge, and there’s also free wi-fi there.

Conclusion- the views at Shenandoah Park were beautiful; we had a great time; and we will definitely be going back!

Note: This is not a sponsored post, and the opinions expressed are my own.

As a child, I went camping with my family numerous times. We even spent an entire summer camping one year, traveling from state to state. And although for years now I’ve lived in a city or suburb, a good chunk of my childhood took place in small towns of Ontario, Canada. I used to play in the woods -sometimes with my brothers, sometimes with my friends, and sometimes by myself. That was normal, and it was amazing.

I want my son to have some of those same memories: digging in the dirt, watching bugs crawl over tree bark, a rabbit gnawing at some plants, tossing rocks in a creek…good times.

Over the last few years, Hubby and I have talked off and on about going camping at some point, but with his work schedule, our camping trip just hadn’t happened yet. This Father’s Day I bought this six-person tent for a great price, so we finally decided we were going to take the leap and go camping.

For a couple of weeks before the trip, I researched online and compiled a list of things to pack and take with us camping, especially with a kid (or kids). Listed in no particular order, we brought:

3 pillows

3 sleeping bags

2 air mattresses

air pump

car charger power converter (for the pump)

portable chargers for our phones

tent and stakes

mallet

tarps

trash bags

paper towels

toilet paper

hand and face sanitizing wipes

dish soap

hand soap

toiletries

bug repellant (spray and wrist bands)

rainwear

hats & sunglasses

variety of clothes and shoes, including hoodies and pants for the evenings

potty seat for Little J (We love our OXO seat. I’ll write more about this in another post.)

slip-on diapers and wipes

allergy medication for adults

fever-reducing medication and an antihistamine appropriate for Little J (Since these need to be kept cool, I initially put them in a small bottle cooler with an ice pack until we purchased a bag of ice for the big cooler.)

flashlights

headlamps

2 plastic/vinyl table cloths

I also packed dry food like a box of pre-seasoned quinoa, several packages of dry soup, peanut butter, whole wheat bread, graham crackers, marshmallows, etc. I normally try to make healthy choices with what we eat, but I also didn’t want to make our first family camping trip difficult…so overall, yeah, we ate a lot of processed food.

When we were close to the campgrounds, we stopped at a grocery store and bought:

hot dogs

bread

firewood (You’re not supposed to bring firewood from state to state, because you could be bringing foreign pests with it.)

butter

eggs

milk

fruit

veggies

water (two large jugs)

ice for the cooler

chocolate (for the s’mores!)

If we were going straight from our house to the campgrounds, I may have bought some of these ahead of time (I did mean to get the bread ahead of time but forgot), but we were stopping at a theme park on our way. I didn’t know how hot the car was going to get, so I thought it would be better to stock the cooler with perishables when we were almost to the campgrounds.

Next time we go camping, if we go straight from our house to our campsite, I think I may make pancake batter ahead of time and freeze it in large Ziploc bags.

We did buy a new bag of ice every day. It was about a 15-trip from our campgrounds to a Wal-Mart, so that wasn’t too bad. The drive there and back was actually a great way to get Little J to fall asleep and actually nap! I’d wait in the car while Little J slept and Hubby ran inside for the ice.

Things we should have packed:

rope

more trash bags (Three was barely enough.)

more refill bags for the OXO potty seat. (We used a paper towel shoved into the bottom of a plastic grocery store bag, but that didn’t work as well as the actual bags they make for the seat. We had some leakage problems with the grocery store bags.)

Our bikes, including Little J’s, for riding around the campgrounds

We nearly filled up the back of the SUV, and we used our cargo carrier. Yes, it was a lot of stuff, but we ended up using everything or nearly everything. I would enjoy bare bones, backpack camping, but probably not with the 3-year old.

When we got to our site, we kept all the food in the back of the vehicle, and we hung the trash bag up from a tree branch stub. Next time we’ll use a rope, just to make sure we get the trash up out of reach of any potential furry visitors to our camp.

So that’s about it for the preparation. I’ll follow up with posts about where we camped and some of the equipment that we used.

Want to visit the National Aquarium? To start with I want to point out that the National Aquarium is in Baltimore, not DC. I’ve run across quite a few people who were unaware of this. There USED TO BE a national aquarium in DC, but it closed in 2013 for renovations, and many of the exhibits were moved to Baltimore, which isn’t much further away.

Big J, Little J and I visited the aquarium a couple of months ago, but I’m just now getting around to posting about our visit. I’ve been so busy with work. My new job is going very well, but before I was considered a “qualified” instructor who could teach on her own, I had to personalize more than 30 master lesson plans (each lesson plan ranges from 1 lecture to 11 lectures) and pass two performance evaluations. Normally, new instructors will have three performance evaluations, but because of my previous teaching experience and skill, my department head decided I didn’t need the middle one…woohoo! Anyway, I’m now qualified, so I’m not bringing work home at night and on the weekends quite as much. I have time to blog!

The view of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor from the National Aquarium

So back to the aquarium… We visited a couple of weeks before the infamous Baltimore riots, but from what I understand, things are back to usual in the Inner Harbor, and the aquarium wasn’t damaged.

Things to know: Tickets to the aquarium aren’t cheap. If you live in the area and plan on going a few times a year, I recommend looking into a membership. Ticket also sell out, and the aquarium has a timed entry system, so I’d buy tickets ahead of time online. Currently, tickets for kids 3-11 are $24.95, and tickets for kids/adults 12-64 are $39.95. Senior tickets are $3 off the regular admission price. As you can see, the aquarium can be a little expensive!

You also need to factor in parking. There are parking garages and lots all over the Inner Harbor, and the prices vary wildly too. I would expect to pay anywhere from $15-25 in parking for your aquarium visit, but it’s possible you could find a cheaper rate, depending on the season and day of the week. We chose the aquarium’s official parking partner, Lockwood Place, because of its proximity. It’s about half a block away from the aquarium. The parking garage offers a small discount (I believe it was $2 or $3 for us) to aquarium visitors. You need to take your parking ticket with you and get it validated at the aquarium, after you park.

Once you get inside the aquarium, it’s important to note that strollers aren’t allowed. I did see one stroller, but it had a handicap tag fixed to it. The aquarium is designed in a way that people stand on conveyor belts that move you up and in between the tanks. I’ve read elsewhere that the aquarium offers a limited number of baby carriers, but I’ve never needed to take advantage of this. There is a stroller check when you first come in.

This was actually our second time at the aquarium. The first time we visited, Little J was Baby J…only about two months old. I had a baby carrier with already, so we just checked the stroller downstairs, and I carried him through the exhibits. This time, I just let him walk around, since he’s a “big boy” (almost 3).

There is a small cafe, but we haven’t had issues bringing in a few snacks and water.

About the aquarium: It’s awesome! Okay, I have to admit that Hubby is not impressed, but I really don’t understand why. I love the layout. It’s a tall building, and you just keep going up and up and up, and looking down into the tanks. The view is fantastic. Then when you get to the top, you can take a spiraling ramp all the way down, and the ramp is surrounded by a circular shark tank that is stories high. How is that not cool??

Little J LOVED it. I thought he would get tired, but he didn’t. I guess it’s really not too much walking for a little guy. Just a couple of weeks after our last visit, a new interactive exhibit was opened, so I’m planning on going back later this year. I think Little J would love to pet a crab!

I think the pictures speak for themselves, but the architecture and set up of this place is amazing. If you’re in the area and have a chance, I recommend visiting the National Aquarium!

What is your favorite aquarium to visit? Have you been to the National Aquarium?